Will the US become a nation of renters?

You are absolutely right. I taught real estate licensing classes and the very first first I said was-the government is only leasing land to "buyers."
That was a hard one to swallow. It shocked me when I heard it. The government can take your land anytime they want it. We are a country of
renters. Period.

I would say buying a home is more expensive. While buying you have a down payment and all the fees. After buying you have property tax, water and
all utilities. As for water, if you want a decent looking yard, you need to water it, which is very costly. Maintenance is another costly expense
especially with older homes.

originally posted by: avgguy
Well you have to look at taxes. In my state property tax alone in nearly 2.5%. So the average house is 250,000 that makes yearly prop tax nearly
$6,300 or ~$500 a month. That makes a huge difference especially if your home value goes up.

Depends on the state. of course.

Also what laws you can play with.

For instance, I have a little under 400 acres with two (now) homes on it.

In Montana if your home is incomplete or not on a permanent foundation then it isn't considered a home, but an outbuilding.

So our first home will never be on a permanent foundation and my second home will never be completed.

My property taxes are roughly $680 a year, but a portion of my property I have turned into a tree farm which gives me a tax credit.

I mow a section of the property and it is now zoned as an emergency plane landing site, giving me a tax credit.

So my actual taxes, after everything, is roughly $200 a year.

Which I pay by doing an occasional odd job, to be honest.

With a thousand feet or so of riverfront property.

Sounds like the dream, I love my life but I envy your acres, Britain is expensive unfortunately.

I bought my first home in the late 90s, when the price was closer to 3.8 x the average annual salary for our zip code. I purchased a rental in 2010
when the price was about 3.5 x the annual average salary for the zip code. I may buy another when the bottom falls out of the current fake market.

No starter 3 bed / 2 bath home is worth more than 3-4 times the annual average salary of the zip code where it was built (and payments / escrow should
be about 30% of the budget). Anyone who tells you different is full of beans / hoping that you are an all-day sucker.

originally posted by: l
I have a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 floor and 2300 square foot home on half an acre...... for $1100 per month. For that same price, I can get a 3 bed, 1
bathroom apartment with more rules than a courthouse, no yard, neighbors you can hear through the walls (and ceiling) no resale value, no driveway and
the joy of being treated like a second-class citizen.

For that price I could rent a 600sqft studio. It all depends on where you're located.

Have you ever delved into the bankruptcy of the US in 1934,the standing president sold our rights and our futures,land is owned by bankers,ones who
loan money to buy/rent their property,this is fact not fiction

The real estate market in the U.S. is heavily manipulated by foreign/domestic banks, including the Federal Resrve Bank, insurance companies, foreign
investors and companies like Airbnb. Every industry is manipulated in a similar manner, from gold/silver (low prices) to stock markets (high prices) &
everything in between. Without mortgages, insurance & other banking schemes, real estate would be @ 70-90% more affordable. What most put down as a
down payment on a basic house, should be the actual price of the house. During the 2008 financial crisis the banks, which gave out unpayable loans to
anyone with a pulse, got bailed out. They then used this money to buy all the real estate back, which they sold with bogus loans. These anti-free
market practices maintains the higher price of real estate. The banks should have been forced into bankruptcy & their assets liquidated instead of
being bailed out. This would have caused real estate prices to move towards their natural free market levels. Instead the banks were bailed out, which
maintained higher real estate prices. I have similar feelings towards the auto industry. Imo, irresponsible automobile manufacturers should not have
been bailed out. I used to like GM's vehicles but imo they are not built as good today as they were before the financial crisis. They don't have to be
as good because GM knows if they go bankrupt again, the government will just bail them out again.

I believe in the near future, once self-driving cars, batteries & solar panels technologies advance. More people will live in their vehicles. Probably
in travel trailers behind self-driving vehicles. These vehicles will drive around 24/7 without needing property to park on. Many are already living in
vans & RVs because of high rent & real estate prices. Boats are another alternative.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.